Social Media in Education MYTHS

Great post from Learning Today about the Social Media in Ed myths which include:

1. Technology takes too much time!
2. Social media in schools is dangerous!
3. Social media is for entertainment only!
4. Social media increases off-task behavior!
5. You don’t need to learn about social media in schools!
   
   and
   
   Tips and Tools for Incorporating Social Media in the Classroom
   

Was thrilled to see my post 8 Ways Ms. Schoening Used Facebook to Enrich a Primary Classroom sited as a tip!

Visit Top 5 Social Media in Education Myths | #Edchat Recap for more information on each myth.

Want to be a great teacher? Don’t go to PD.

Guest Post by Peter Kent

As a professional development (PD) provider for a Public Ed Department in Australia, I lead and coordinate the strategic delivery of PD to support the use of tech in schools in all its different forms and flavours. If feedback counts for anything, I am very good at what I do. I have been in this position for 3 years and have seen countless teachers and schools improve their practice.

However, one thing I have noticed when it comes to integrating information communication technologies (ICT), is that the teachers and the schools that really fly, the high performing schools...they don’t come to my PD. They don’t go to any PD. They understand that they, and their professional networks, are their own PD.

Our beliefs limit our potential

The following video sums up for me what is wrong with the ‘I need PD’ way of the world. It is this belief that limits our potential as teachers.



“There are two teachers, we have just been given (insert your technology here) and we need help”. As you can see from the video it is not a helpful attitude to have.

The problem with PD is that on the whole it treats teachers as ‘consumers’ of professional knowledge, and discourages teachers from thinking for themselves. The reality is that most of good practice with ICT is still to be developed. Teachers need to be ‘creators’ of professional knowledge.

A mindset that insists on PD before you integrate ICT, is flawed because the world is changing too fast. New technologies, new Web2.0 (and soon Web3.0) tools are being developed on almost a weekly basis, and this rate of development is only going to increase. While these new tools are being created other old ones are becoming redundant, does anyone use ICQ anymore. It is not possible to create PD courses to keep pace. There is a concept in ‘futures thinking’ that is important here:

If the world is changing faster than you can change, then you lose control of the future.

The context of education is changing very rapidly. Teachers and schools that cannot change fast enough to keep up lose control. When you lose control you become frustrated and angry. I occasionally hear people say that it has never been harder to be a teacher. If you cannot change and adapt your practice as your students and ICT changes, then yes – it will be very hard for you to be successful as a teacher.

However I think it has never been easier to be a teacher. No teacher throughout history has had access to the powerful ICT tools that we have. We can bring richer content into our classrooms, we have access to high quality student data on which to base our lesson planning, and we have the capacity to allow students to be creators of their own knowledge and controllers of their own learning. So while it has never been easier to be a teacher, the proviso is that you use technology well, and for that to occur you need to let go of the notion of PD.

PLN not PD

Great teachers see themselves as ‘creators’ of professional knowledge. Through a continuous cycle of ‘planning, application, reflection’ great teachers develop improved ways to educate students, tailoring their teaching to the specific needs of the context within which they teach.

I use three key questions to guide the reflection within this cycles – the reflection being the most important part:

1. How well did that go? (what I tried to do?)
2. How do I know how well it went? (what data am I relying on?)
3. How well could that have gone? (this is probably the most important question)

It is best if you get the others, including students, to help you answer these questions.

Growing your professional practice, becoming a high performing teacher is a journey. Like all good journeys they are best done in groups. This is why your professional learning network (PLN) is so important.

I go to quite a lot of conferences each year. When I started out teaching in the mid 90s I used to judge a conference as a good one if I learnt two or three new skills that I could adapt to my classroom. I still look for good ideas, but now a conference is a good one if I met two or three people who will add richness and diversity to my professional network.

But this is just my view, my thinking. What is important is what you think.

5 Ways to Build Your 1.0 and 2.0 Personal Learning Network

The digital age has made the development of a Personal Learning Network (PLN) easier than ever before. The PLN is a network created by an individual learner, specific to the learner’s needs extending relevant learning connections to those around the globe who share interests, passions, and talents. PLNs provide individuals with an unprecedented ability to access and connect with leaders and experts around the world bringing together communities, resources and information impossible to access solely from within school walls. Personal learning networks can be comprised of people you know via face-to-face (f2f) and virtual connections. In the best of all worlds they are people you connect with in both ways.

Personal Learning Networks can be described as 1.0 and 2.0. In the 1.0 stage participants are mainly consumers of information. In the 2.0 stage participants are actually producing/creating information.

Most who are just beginning to build personal learning networks may start by engaging in 1.0 activities. As they begin to get a lay of the land and feel comfortable they may be ready to dip their toes into some 2.0 activities. To follow are ideas to get started.

Five ways to build your personal learning network

1-Face to Face
Although most educators are familiar with face-to-face options, even the most traditional of connection building can be difficult to create and maintain. Some ideas for doing so though include place-based connections with those in your school and district. Here are two ideas for developing such connections.

• 1.0 - Find Classroom Teachers With Whom You Can Connect
  One terrific way to build your personal learning network is to find out if there are other teachers in your school and district doing innovative work with which you connect. The hard part, is knowing who is doing what. Here in New York, I’ve developed a site called Innovate My Class. Any school can use this site to showcase the innovative work of classroom teachers who have integrated various tech tools into instruction. Teachers can visit this site to share what they’re doing and learn who is doing similar work within their school or district. This makes it much easier to connect with those interested in engaging learners in similar ways with similar tools.
• 2.0 - Publish the work that is taking place is your classroom
  Teachers around the globe have great things going on in their classroom, but in most cases do not share what they are doing beyond their classroom or school community. In the 21st century teachers can share the great work they are doing in their classrooms with sites like Innovate My Class, on blogs, via Twitter, Facebook, and more. Build your personal learning network by sharing what you’re doing and connecting with others who are doing (or interested in doing) the same.
  

• 1.0 Discover What Other Schools Are Doing
  Visiting other schools is another great way to make f2f connections. I developed a site called Innovation Field Trips which enables schools engaged in innovative work to share with other schools when they are hosting open houses. Visiting and connecting with educators at other schools who are pursuing similar work can result in powerful learning. Following the field trips schools post reflections that include narratives, photos, and video that capture what they learned in relation to their selected problem of practice.
• 2.0 - Host an Innovation Field Trip / Open House
  An innovation field trip is both a great way for host schools to get better at incorporating innovative practices into their work and for visitors to learn about innovative practices. Use this School Innovation Field Trip Quick Guide if you are interested in hosting one at your school site.

When you want to extend your f2f beyond your personal learning time, here are some additional ideas.

2-Learning Networks

• 1.0 Check out some learning networks
  Learning networks provide a terrific way to begin instantly learning about topics of interest. Recommendations:
• Classroom 2.0 (for educators using Web 2.0 technology)
• Transforming Ed for The 21st Century
• 2.0 Participate in a learning network
  Once you’ve had some time to look around (also known as lurking), go ahead and respond to or start your own discussion. Learning networks are a great tool to communicate with other innovative educators and leaders.
• Read more:
  Classroom 2.0 Blog
• Watch more:
  

3-Blogs

• 1.0 - Read Blogs
  Pick 5 Blogs you find interesting and start reading them.
  Recommendations:

1. weblogg-ed: learning with the read/write web
2. A Principal's Reflections
3. Practical Theory
4. The Innovative Educator
5. Cool Cat Teacher

• 1.0 Subscribe to Your Blogs
  Subscribe to the blogs you selected in Google Reader. Caution: Limit your reader to five to start. Keeping up with more blogs will be difficult.
  Watch: Google Reader in Plain English
• 2.0 Start Commenting
  Become a part of the conversation and start commenting on the blogs you read. You’ll be amazed but how well participating in the read/write web helps your professional growth.
• Read more:
  Want to help a principal start a blog? These principals can show how.
• Watch more:
  

4-Twitter

• 1.0 - Read Tweets of Edubloggers
  Select 5 well-known Edubloggers to follow and watch all the great stuff they have to share. You'll find out a lot of information that fits into 140 character sound bytes.
  Recommendations:

1. willrich45 / Will Richardson
2. coolcatteacher / Vicki Davis
3. stevehargadon / Steve Hargadon
4. InnovativeEdu / Lisa Nielsen
5. penelopetrunk / Penelope Trunk

• 1.0 - Read Tweets of Search Terms
  Pick a topic you’re interested in and do a Twitter search for that term. See who is Tweeting about these topics and follow those who have Tweets you find meaningful.
  Recommendations

1. Edchat
2. ellchat
3. ela
4. dyslexia
5. assessment

• 2.0 - Reply to Tweets
  Set up an account on Twitter so you can reply to some of those who are Tweeting about topics of interest.
• Read more:
  5 Real Examples of Using Twitter for Education
  Twitter - It's All About the Conversation
• Watch more:
  

5-Facebook

• 1.0 Join Facebook
  Friend colleagues and experts who effectively use Facebook as an educational tool. See what they write. Read and learn.
  Recommendations:

1. Lisa Velmer Nielsen
2. Chris Lehmann
3. Eric Sheninger
4. Mary Beth Hertz
5. Thomas Whitby

• 2.0 Interact with Facebook
  Update your status. Comment on an update of your of your friends. Use the “@” symbol to tag a friend(s) who you think might be interested in an update. This might be an interesting article you’ve read or something about which you’d like their opinion.
• Read More:
• 8 Real Ways Facebook Enriched Ms. Schoening’s First Grade Class
• The Innovative Educator in the New York Times - Friending Students on Facebook
• A Principal's Reflections: Banning is the Easy Way Out
• Watch More:
  

If you’d like to begin building your personal learning network pick one or two of these ideas and get started building your learning network. Join a social network, subscribe to blogs, comment and Tweet. If you do, you’ll not only learn a lot, but you will contribute to the learning of others as well.

Using Technology to Combat Obesity

By Jacob Gutnicki

Over the past few years there have been numerous articles that have reported that the increase of childhood and adult obesity is growing at an alarming rate. Additionally, various medical journals have documented that obesity related diseases including diabetes and heart attacks have sharply increased. In fact, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention the following alarming trends have occurred over a period of 20 years;

- In 1990, among states participating in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, ten states had a prevalence of obesity less than 10% and no states had prevalence equal to or greater than 15%.
- By 1999, no state had prevalence less than 10%, eighteen states had a prevalence of obesity between 20-24%, and no state had prevalence equal to or greater than 25%.
- In 2008, only one state (Colorado) had a prevalence of obesity less than 20%. Thirty-two states had a prevalence equal to or greater than 25%; six of these states (Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia ) had a prevalence of obesity equal to or greater than 30%.

In the meantime, varying interest groups and politicians have pointed the finger of blame at a number of items including portion sizes offered at restaurants, sugary school foods, the inclusion of trans fats, video games, school fitness programs or rather the lack of one, as well as other mitigating factors. Needless to say, there are plenty of people who can be blamed for this perplexing problem. However, in the final analysis blame will not change our situation. In the end, innovative solutions are needed to combat this problem. With this in mind I will share with you a couple of promising ideas.

1. Spark People is a Social Networking web site which shares inspiring diet stories with its users, offer tools to create sensible nutritional plans, a nutrition calculator for the purpose of calculating caloric intake, varying fitness tools, instructional videos, and other tools to track your progress.

2. iGoogle Calorie Calculator is a Google Gadget that lets you plan your meals according to your caloric needs and includes a database of more than 70,000 foods to choose from. Using calorie calculators is a convenient way of planning your daily nutritional needs and can be used to track and adjust consumption decisions.

3. Wii Fit- Traditionally, video games have been blamed for the increase in childhood obesity. This is largely due to the fact that video games can be addictive and subsequently involve a great deal of seat time- hence the term couch potato. Fortunately, Wii Fit differs in its approach as the participant is required to stand on a "balance platform" and perform a variety of exercise such as running, yoga, aerobics, and other rigorous activities. As a result, numerous studies have shown that this tool has helped participants lose weight and become more fit.

4. Dance, Dance Revolution requires the participant to conduct a variety of aerobic exercises. More importantly, a study in West Virginia demonstrated that Dance, Dance revolution helped overweight students become more physically active and lose on average 10-15 pounds. Additionally, other school districts have achieved similar results.

5. iPod Nano + Nike, or and iPod, or an iPod Shuffle- Whether you carry one of the newer or older iPod models this device can be used to exercise in numerous ways. The shuffle is a convenient way to enjoy a jog in the park. If you want to track your run, the Nano allows you to track the pace of your run and compete with other runners. Both the iPod and Nano model are excellent for the gym as you can watch your favorite television show or movie while using an elliptical or similar exercise machine for an extended period of time.

6. Garmin Sports Watch- If you are looking for a device that offers more tracking options to co-inside with your run then the Garmin Sports Watch will definitely meet your needs.

7. MapMyRun.com is a community web site for runners and joggers who want to stay healthy, lose weight or train more effectively. More importantly, Map My Run is also used to share varying jogging routes a runner created and tracks related statistics.

8. Calories Per Hour is a web site that allows users to calculate what their caloric needs are, use a BMI calculator, and calculate how many calories are burned conducting a variety of activities including walking, jogging, running, weight lifting, swimming, as well as other physical activities.

9. iPump is an iPod application that includes;

· A variety of workouts drawing from thousands of unique exercises and equipment such as barbell, exercise ball, dumbbells, kettle bells, BOSU, foam roller and more.

· The ability to search workouts by location (hotel, home, gym, etc.), goal (arms, abs, cardio, etc.) or keyword.

· An exercise database with incredible variety. My favorites - squat thrust to push up with a med ball and 180 swings with a kettle bell.

· Videos of each exercise.

· The ability to edit workouts or create your own

10. Exercise Pod Casts- There are many free pod casts available for download that offer quick tips and other useful hints. A good place to start your journey is with My Free Trainer. My Free Trainer offer pod casts both for men and women with Pod Casts for beginners, intermediate exercisers, and an advanced level. Additionally, it provides a calendar of classes. For example, Wednesday's class focuses on the legs and chest, while Monday's class focuses on Pull ups, Crunches, and using Dumbbells. There are many other free pod casts on the Internet which can easily be found in the iTunes store under the Pod Casts tab with the category Fitness and Workout.

Final Word- The following is a small list of possible methods to get your body moving. I happen to immensely enjoy jogging and weightlifting to music. I also enjoy watching television shows and movies while exercising on the elliptical. That being said, one does not need technology to exercise. It is simply another approach to exercising. If you enjoy playing volleyball, soccer, swimming, competing in half-marathons, or a run in the park, go for it, and don't forget to Keep on Moving.

Do The IWBs or Clickers You (want to) Own REALLY Help Meet Learning Goals?

The reason I don’t use interactive white boards or clickers is because I use technologies that will help me with productivity or help my students meet their learning goals in faster/better/or never previously possible ways. These items don’t help me do that so I don’t use them. If you are considering an IWB or clicker purchase, these questions should be considered and answered by school staff before you invest your money in such a purchase.

Just because a school has extra funds to spend on technology doesn’t mean it is always better to do so. Here are two stories of effective teachers who had tech imposed upon them that they didn’t want (story 1) or need (story 2) as a result of these questions not being addressed.

Story One - Literacy
An excellent literacy teacher in a one-to-one middle school loved her tablet and projector and exquisitely modeled writing during her mini lessons using her equipment. She demonstrated 21st century writing using a laptop with all the features that writers use. For instance in her modeling she’d show her students how she would type, cut, paste, right click, not slow down thinking with spelling errors the computer identifies, get synonym suggestions and dictionary definitions. She may get a bunch of text down first then chunk and place it where it belongs. She sat facing her students at eye level during instruction engaged in deep discussion. Her back was never to them.

None of this is done more effectively in a writing classroom with an IWB yet this teacher’s supervisor had a school full of em and she wanted them used. It didn’t matter that her students were writing with keyboards, not pens or that the teacher wanted to face or class or that the teacher felt modeling meant using the keyboard real writers use. The administration had lots of expensive boards and she wanted them used. The teacher left the school the next year.

Story Two - Unnecessary Purchase of Clickers
In story two a one-to-one school which extra funds succumbed to an IWBs companies sales advice that the next step for a school that had an IWB for every teacher and laptops for each student was to purchase clickers. The school was even covered by a news channel for the great work they were doing. Ugh. in the clip the teacher was up at her IWB and the students were at their desks with laptops and clickers. As I watched the news clip my heart sank. They were fooled by a salesman and had just wasted $2400 per class. They could have done exactly what they were doing with the clickers with the laptops every student had, or if the school didn’t ban cell phones, they could have used those.

What would I have recommended a school with extra cash to spend on tech do? Well, it’s what I’ve done with the educators and students with whom I work. Have a tech day and bring in a multitude of vendors from smart pens to iTouches, to flip video cameras etc. Have the teachers and students together explore this equipment and discuss ways these items can innovate instruction. Have teachers and students write proposals for the technology that can help them meet their learning goals. Provide the equipment for teachers with the agreement that they will publish what they are doing so others can learn. See http://innovatemyclass.org for an example of what this might look like.

But, how’s one to know?
Administrators need not turn to vendors for purchasing decisions. Instead turn to your staff and students and invite them to think, “What are my learning goals and what are the tools necessary to achieve them?” Do not turn to vendors for the answer. There are many innovative educators that can help guide purchasing decisions virtually or face-to-face. You can find them by reading blogs and developing a personal network for learning available in places like Facebook, Twitter, and Classroom 2.0. And, if you don’t have that yet, you can always start here, with me, The Innovative Educator.

Got Money for a Really Expensive Set of Training Wheels? I’ve Got An IWB to Sell Ya.

Editor’s note: Here’s another in the series for those who have been following the great debate going on here at The Innovative Educator over the effectiveness of Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs).

I’ve never understood how the IWB companies could fool so many into needlessly wasting their money by misinforming them of the capabilities of the device which I believe provide no value over the Tablet / projector combo, yet cost as much as $1000 - $3000 more. Yet the debate about the device has helped answer this question thanks to many who’ve contributed comments, including, most recently Peter Kent who sums up some of the debate to date here at The IWB debate - where do you stand?

In our latest round, Mr. Kent acknowledges in his comments that he agrees with my belief that “everything that could be done with an IWB could be done with other / cheaper technology,” however, he shares that this is besides the point. As I read through his insights into my misguided flaws in thinking, I realize, he’s right indeed. He breaks it down in two parts. Here is an excerpt from Part 1 where he helps me understand why schools are wasting thousands of dollars on these devices when money could better be spent on resources for students.

The problem is with the message you are weaving, the narrative. It is misguided, though well intentioned, and if there has to be a right or wrong in the issue – you would be wrong.

• 1st Wrong Thing - Humans are emotional and are not rational, and you are insisting that teachers act as if they are absolutely rational.
  
  In your posts you never mention the broader context in schools that we need to consider. Non-techie teachers (the vast bulk of teachers) are not comfortable with technology, with the concept of computers within classrooms, and while it is not rational we need to accept that. Prior to IWBs (last century) the concept of 2 or 3 computers in a classroom used to freak out the vast majority of teachers. They were however comfortable with the concept of a ‘Board’ in the room. This was the revolutionary nature of IWBs, and still is. For emotional and non-rational reasons it was technology that the vast bulk of teachers were prepared to buy into. This is what I think IWB manufactures talk about when they use the term ‘bridging technology’. An IWB is like the training wheels that teachers need as they come to terms with and hopefully eventually move to a richer and more diverse range of technologies within the classroomSo the while the detail of what your posts say are true on the surface, they are wrong within the context of ‘the real world’.

Mr. Kent is correct. I lack some of that social emotional empathy that others have and in it’s place have a more black and white view of things. A decade into the 21st century and I’m tired of the training wheels already. Especially when the funds to purchase those extraordinarily expensive wheels means fewer resources for students. I’d prefer to save those dollars by spending some time with teachers showing them how they can teach more effectively when they ditch the board, and have a seat to get down and dirty with their students (who may or may not be in the same room as them) and get to the work of learning. I understand that many teachers cling to what they believe is their rightful place, front and center of the room, but there is a better way, and it involves tying learning to people not places. And, if you’re wondering, that doesn’t mean I’m suggesting abandoning direct instruction, but rather that we make a shift in the thinking about the place from where it is delivered. When we break down the wall between the teacher up front and everyone else behind him or her we can all move ahead into the 21st century together regardless of physical location of the teachers or learners.

Note: For my response to his 2nd wrong thing about my thinking, read the comment section here.